In conjunction with our Paris 1874: The Impressionist Moment exhibition, join us for a talk with architectural historian Esther da Costa Meyer. During the second half of the 19th-century, Paris was in the throes of a vast project of urban renewal. Gleaming new boulevards, public illumination, parks, and squares radically altered both the appearance and experience of the city. But this transformation did not mean the same thing for everyone. Its impact was felt differently by varying social classes and generations, men and women, and French and foreign residents. In order to probe these perspectives, written records need to be supplemented with a variety of sources such as paintings, etchings, and photographs. While no single source is value-free, visual culture can paint a more diverse picture of this fascinating, multi-faceted, and ever-changing city.
Please note that high attendance is anticipated. Seating is first come, first served; advance registration does not guarantee entry. A livestream of the presentation will be available online.
About the Speaker
Esther da Costa Meyer is professor emerita of modern architecture at Princeton University. A native of Brazil, she specializes in issues of cultural translation involving architecture. She focuses on buildings erected by colonial powers in the Global South, as well as the emerging cultures of resistance that were themselves highly hybrid, transnational, and diasporic. Interested in issues pertaining to gender and design, she has published on architects Lilly Reich, Charlotte Perriand, and Lina Bo Bardi. Her curatorial work includes the exhibition and catalogue Schoenberg, Kandinsky and the Blue Rider, co-curated with Fred Wasserman (The Jewish Museum, New York) and, more recently, an exhibition of the drawings of Frank Gehry, Frank Gehry: On Line (Princeton University Art Museum). Also interested in the historic avant-gardes in architecture, she has published a book on the Italian futurist Antonio Sant’Elia.